Featured Resources

This guidance document provides background information on what an Integrated Data System (IDS) is and why educational authorities may choose to participate in one, and clarifies how such authorities can participate in an IDS while ensuring student privacy in compliance with FERPA.

Related Resources

Information Technology (IT) audits can help organizations identify critical gaps in data security and
reduce the threat of security compromises. This issue brief explains what audits are and how they can
be used to improve data security.

Schools have long been targets for cyber thieves and criminals. We are writing to let you know of a new threat, where the criminals are seeking to extort money from school districts and other educational institutions on the threat of releasing sensitive data from student records. In some cases, this has included threats of violence, shaming, or bullying the children unless payment is received.

Important Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance highlighting ongoing phishing attacks against K-12 schools and school districts. These attacks are targeting HR and critical business functions within organizations to access the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from the W-2 forms of employees and, in some cases, extracting fraudulent payments from their victims. This document contains a summary of the attacks, tactics of the attackers, potential ramifications and links to the official IRS guidance.